Electrically operable toy game



Dec. 3, 1963 W- J- DILL ELECTRICALLY OPERABLE TOY GAME Filed Feb. 27. 1961 wVE/vmfi WILLIAM J. PILL A TORNE Y United States Patent 3,112,931 ELECTRICALLY OPERABLE TOY GAME William J. Dill, 4730 Heege Road, St. Louis, Mo. Filed Feb. 27, 1961, Ser. No. 91,916 2 Claims. (Cl. 273139) This invention relates to toy games intended to be played by adults as well as by children, and has among its general objects the production of such a game device that will be sufficiently intriguing to hold interest for a long time, that will be neat and attractive in appearance, relatively simple to make and maintain serviceable, strong and sturdy, easy to operate, and which will be otherwise satisfactory and efficient for use whereverdeemed applicable.

One of the principal objects of my invention is to so design and construct such a device, that it will have a plurality of signal lamps arranged in sight on the exterior of a cabinet, with provision for energizing said lamps by battery or line current, and with a plurality of switches arranged on the cabinet exterior and each being independently and individually selectively operable to several contact positions to energize variable numbers of said lamps into point-scoring values at diiferent settings of said switches.

Another object of the invention is to have said switches without any visible markings or setting designations thereon, so that all adjustments of each switch must be made purely by chance and without any forehand or advance knowledge of the scoring values of any settings.

Many other objects and advantages of the construction of said device will be obvious to those skilled in the art to which this invention appertains, all as will be more clearly brought out in the disclosures herein stated.

To this end, my invention consists in the novel construction, arrangement, combination and fonm of parts herein shown and described, and the uses mentioned, all as will be more clearly set out in the following specification and claims.

In the drawings, wherein like reference characters refer to like or corresponding parts throughout the views,

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of the device;

FIGURE 2 is an elevation of one end of the same;

FIGURE 3 is a diagrammatic view of the wiring of the device;

FIGURES 4, 5 land 6 are similar views of adjusted settings, in advancing sequence, of one of the auxiliary switches used.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, wherein I have illustrated a preferred embodiment of my invention, 1 represents a box or container, of any material, size and shape, for receiving the various component parts of the mechanism.

It is to be noted, and stressed, that the only components that are visible to the player, from the exterior of the device, are the master or momentary-use switch 2, that is normally in open circuit position, as indicated, and any preferred number of individual, separately operable auxiliary switches 3-3 there being four such auxiliary switches in the embodiment illustrated.

Each such auxiliary switch is of a type that may be manually adjusted to any one of several current-conducting settings, somewhat like that of the ordinary threeway snap switch used to control the several filament combinations of a common type of household lamp. It is to be particularly stressed that such switches will have no markings or indications connected therewith visible to show the wattage settings to which they can be set; hence, any adjustments thereof must be blind, and which point is important to the playing of the game.

Although each such auxiliary switch may be other than a threeway snap switch, just so long as at least several 3,112,93l Patented Dec. 3, 1963 manually adjustable settings may be made from time to time therewith, said type of switches are herein used inasmuch as they are so readily obtainable in the market, at reasonable cost.

Each such auxiliary switch has a contact 4, providing the pivotal end of a movably adjustable bar or finger 6 for sequentially engaging the pair of circumferentially spaced-apart contacts 7 and 8 as said bar is adjustably advanced in the direction shown, said contact 4 connected by the conductor '5 to one of the leads of the power line 9. There is another bar or finger 10 that is movable in unison with the bar 6 and which makes contact at one point of its travel with a pair of short conductors 1111 so as to carry the current through both contacts 7 and S in unison.

Although I have described the wiring of only a single auxiliary switch, the others are of the same kind, and need not be separately described.

Each such auxiliary switch, except the last one in the series, has a series wiring with the next adjacent switch, there being a conductor wire 12 between each contact and the other lead of the power line 9, and each such wire 12 connects between the contact 7 of one switch and the contact 4 of the next switch in the sequence. A lamp 13 is connected between each of the contacts 7 and 8 and the lead of the line 9, so as to be energized when current is passing through the wires 99.

In operation, and assuming that the first auxiliary switch (at the left end of the series) is in the position indicated in FIG. 4, then as soon as the switch 2 is moved to its temporary or momentary circuit-closing position, the current will ilow through the contacts 4 and 7 of said first switch to energize the first lamp 13, and at the same time will flow to the contact 4 of the next adjacent switch. If said second switch is not in its off position, one or more lamps will be energized through said second switch, depending upon its adjusted position at the time. If, for instance, the bar of the second switch is in engagement with the contact 8 of the same, then an additional lamp will be energized.

When the first auxiliary switch is in the position indicated in FIG. 5, the current will then be conducted only through the contact 8 thereof to ignite only a single lamp.

When the first switch is in the position indicated in FIG. 6, the current will then be conducted by the arm 10 to both contacts 7 and '8 in unison, so that the first two lamps will then be energized, and in addition, the current will lead to the contact 4 of the second such auxiliary switch.

From the foregoing description, it will be seen that any one or more of the auxiliary switches may be manually adjusted by the players, and that upon activation of the master switch, the total number of lamps energized will be variable and dependent upon the specific individual settings of one or more of said auxiliary switches. Of course, all such adjustments are necessarily purely by chance, as only the manipulat-able portions of the switches are visible at any time; hence, all adjustments are made blind.

For scoring in the game, the winning player may be either the one that has the greatest number of lights to his credit, or conversely, as in golf scoring, the player with the least number of lights may be declared the winner.

I claim:

1. In an electrical toy game, a cabinet having an electrical power line thereinto, a plurality of signal lamps mounted exteriorly of said cabinet and in circuit with one lead of said line, a plurality of auxiliary switches mounted exteriorly on said cabinet and each in circuit selectively with one or more of said lamps and the other lead of said line, each switch having a plurality of spacedapart fixed contacts and a movable adjustable contact successively engageable with one or more of said fixed contacts, whereby adjustment of said movable contacts controls the lighting of said lamps, said switches having no visible indications thereon of which lamps will be energized at any setting of any switch, and a master switch connected between said line and one of said auxiliary switches for energizing at any time all lamps that have been set into energizable positions by chance settings of one or more of said auxiliary switches.

2. In an electrical toy game device whose scoring is dependent upon chance settings, a cabinet having an electrical power line thereto, a plurality of signal lamps mounted on said cabinet and connected to one lead of said line, a plurality of manually individually adjustable auxiliary switches mounted on said cabinet and that have no visible indications thereon associated with the scoring values of said settings, each such switch having a plurality of fixed contacts and a movable contact successively engageable with said fixed contacts, each fixed contact of each switch connected to a single lamp and with another contact connected to another lamp and also to a second auxiliary switch, and a master switch between the other lead of said line and one of said auxiliary switches, whereby operation of said master switch will energize one or more of said auxiliary switches dependent upon the previous setting through chance of the latter switches.

Holcomb July 8, 1941 Chalfin Sept. 1, 1959 

1. IN AN ELECTRICAL TOY GAME, A CABINET HAVING AN ELECTRICAL POWER LINE THEREINTO, A PLURALITY OF SIGNAL LAMPS MOUNTED EXTERIORLY OF SAID CABINET AND IN CIRCUIT WITH ONE LEAD OF SAID LINE, A PLURALITY OF AUXILIARY SWITCHES MOUNTED EXTERIORLY ON SAID CABINET AND EACH IN CIRCUIT SELECTIVELY WITH ONE OR MORE OF SAID LAMPS AND THE OTHER LEAD OF SAID LINE, EACH SWITCH HAVING A PLURALITY OF SPACEDAPART FIXED CONTACTS AND A MOVABLE ADJUSTABLE CONTACT SUCCESSIVELY ENGAGEABLE WITH ONE OR MORE OF SAID FIXED CONTACTS, WHEREBY ADJUSTMENT OF SAID MOVABLE CONTACTS CONTROLS THE LIGHTING OF SAID LAMPS, SAID SWITCHES HAVING NO VISIBLE INDICATIONS THEREON OF WHICH LAMPS WILL BE ENERGIZED AT ANY SETTING OF ANY SWITCH, AND A MASTER SWITCH CONNECTED BETWEEN SAID LINE AND ONE OF SAID AUXILIARY SWITCHES FOR ENERGIZING AT ANY TIME ALL LAMPS THAT HAVE BEEN SET INTO ENERGIZABLE POSITIONS BY CHANCE SETTINGS OF ONE OR MORE OF SAID AUXILIARY SWITCHES. 